Printing overlays in color

[Falco]

I know there are thousands of posts and articles out there on this, but I seem to get lost in vast number of ways to do this.

What I want to do is find the easiest and most cost effective way to eliminate our pre-printed color invoice forms. What I don't want is a 3rd party software that we get locked into a yearly maintenance contact.

We currently use HP printers using Remote OUTQs/LAN and *HPT. I have no problem creating and using B&W overlays with the Windows AFP drivers. Since we are on V6R1 I also once tried using a color AFP driver to create the overlay and print the spool file directly to a PDF, but I remember it looked horrible. We also want to tumble to print to print a disclaimer on the back of the invoices.

What is needed to accomplished this natively?
Do I need IPDS printers or will can I use *HPT and use a color HP or Lexmark printer?
Is there a certain Windows AFP driver I need to be using?
Do I need any extra software from IBM?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Falco

[Dr.Ugo Gagliardelli]

Post by Falco
I know there are thousands of posts and articles out there on
this, but I seem to get lost in vast number of ways to do this.
What I want to do is find the easiest and most cost effective
way to eliminate our pre-printed color invoice forms.
What I don't want is a 3rd party software that we get locked
into a yearly maintenance contact.
We currently use HP printers using Remote OUTQs/LAN and *HPT.
I have no problem creating and using B&W overlays with the
Windows AFP drivers. Since we are on V6R1 I also once tried
using a color AFP driver to create the overlay and print the
spool file directly to a PDF, but I remember it looked horrible.
We also want to tumble to print to print a disclaimer on the
back of the invoices.
What is needed to accomplished this natively?
Do I need IPDS printers or will can I use *HPT and use a color HP or Lexmark printer?
Is there a certain Windows AFP driver I need to be using?
Do I need any extra software from IBM?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

A ready to use solution is IBM Infoprint server, that is capable to put
afp streams containg IOCA fs45 (colored) images into pdf streams and
send them to ascii printers (non ipds) supporting pdf level 5, that's a
requirement that not generally supported by all printers.
This solution allow to print different overlay versions (color and b/w)
with the same name, in different libraries, and define specific psf
configurations to customize printers using differen afp resources, fonts
as well.
The application that print seemlessly keep printing without any change.
To produce overlay or page segments with fs45 ioca images, you can use
the companion IBM software Infoprint designer. This software can produce
afp objects, like page definitions, to define what part of a printing
page has to be printed on which copy, (e.g. on the 1st and not on the
2nd) and on which face. I'm pretty sure that you cannot do the same job
with afp driver.
Infoprint server is somewhat cheap, Infoprint designer is not. Both are
not subject to yearly maintinance, just pay once, and IBM allow you to
migrate them to a different as 400 box/release.